Mike Napoli’s homers help Red Sox down the Yankees

Mike Napoli of the Boston Red Sox hits a three-run homer against the New York Yankees in the third inning of their American League game in Boston, Massachusetts, on Sunday.

Photo: Reuters

MAJOR LEAGUES

Mike Napoli homered with two outs in the 11th inning to help the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 8-7 on Sunday night.

The Red Sox scored seven runs after falling behind 3-0, thanks in part to Napoli’s three-run homer in the third inning, but they coughed up the lead when New York scored two in the sixth and two in the seventh to level it at 7-7.

It stayed that way until Napoli hit a three-two pitch from Adam Warren (1-1) into the center field bleachers.

Pedro Beato (1-0) pitched the 11th for the win, giving up a single to Eduardo Nunez before he was erased trying to steal second — replays showed he was barely safe.

Nunez, Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano had three hits apiece for the Yankees.

Napoli also struck out three times and grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the eighth. The Yankees had runners at first and second with one out in the 10th, but Drake Britton, making his second major-league appearance, got Lyle Overbay to ground into a double play.

The victory left the Red Sox with a 60-40 win-loss record through their first 100 games, 1.5 games in front of the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East and seven in front of the fourth-placed Yankees.

Boston won the three-game series between the longtime rivals at a weekend when New York learned that both shortstop Derek Jeter and third baseman Alex Rodriguez would not be able to return from the disabled list any time soon.

In Anaheim, California, Bartolo Colon pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout this season and center fielder Chris Young robbed Albert Pujols of a home run to help the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-0.

Eric Sogard hit a two-run homer to back Colon (13-3), who struck out five and walked one.

The 116-pitch complete game was Colon’s 35th in 395 big league starts and the shutout was the 12th of his career.

The Orioles had a 4-2 win over the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, with Chris Tillman pitching into the ninth inning on his return from the All-Star game to help Baltimore sweep the three-game series between last season’s playoff teams.

In other American League games, the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 and the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 7-1 to avoid sweeps, the Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep by holding off the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 and the Seattle Mariners trounced the Houston Astros 12-5 to notch their season-best sixth straight win.

In the National League, Matt Kemp returned to the lineup with a home run and a double in the same inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 9-2 win in Washington to stay within half a game of the National League West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks.

In St Louis, Missouri, Adam Wainwright worked eight sharp innings to grab his National League-leading 13th win and Allen Craig ended the game with a leaping catch at the left-field wall as the St Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 3-2.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, Ohio, the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 in New York, the Arizona Diamondbacks held off a late rally by the San Francisco Giants to win 3-1 and avoid a three-game sweep, the Colorado Rockies edged the Chicago Cubs 4-3 and the Milwaukee Brewers clung on to beat the Miami Marlins 1-0, with Caleb Gindl hitting his first career home run in the bottom of the 13th inning.